In the twentieth year of Great Yong, Shanyang County.
Dusk pressed down on the eaves, the cold wind carrying drifting snow.
Shen Qingluo tossed the last paper ingot into the bronze basin. From outside the ancestral hall came the shrill cry of Nanny Wang: “Miss, come quickly! That wretched old Bai stole the jade-and-silver lotus bracelet from your room—drive her out at once!”
That bracelet had been a gift from her grandmother when she came of age.
In the dim candlelight, she bowed three times before her grandmother’s memorial tablet, each thud echoing.
Straightening the creases in her kneeling skirt, Shen Qingluo stepped out of the hall.
“The young lady has come out!” Nanny Wang bustled forward, clad in a brand-new cotton jacket, a heavy ring of keys at her waist—the badge of a housekeeper. She fawned: “Miss, I know today is the full-month memorial for the old madam and you are grieving, but that hag is truly brazen. Her hands are filthy, and because she once served the old madam, she dares not treat you as her mistress.”
Following her gaze, Shen Qingluo saw Nanny Bai held fast by several servants. The old woman wore a washed-out, threadbare jacket, without a single ornament. Her hair was disheveled, her face swollen—someone had struck her.
“My mother is innocent!” Beside her, a boy of fourteen or fifteen was being restrained. His star-like eyes burned with hatred and defiance.
Nanny Wang sneered, twisting his ear: “Dragon begets dragon, phoenix begets phoenix, but a rat’s son will only burrow holes. You’re no good either.”
“You’re the one who’s no good!” The boy struggled, but he was too thin; Nanny Wang kicked him down.
Shen Qingluo frowned. “Nanny Wang, stop.” Her voice was cold and steady, unlike her usual meekness.
Nanny Wang faltered, releasing her grip. “Miss, this old servant was only teaching an unruly brat a lesson. The Marchioness dotes on you—she would never let you suffer in this backwater.”
Shen Qingluo fixed her with a calm gaze. “Is that so?”
The quiet clarity of her eyes made Nanny Wang’s heart tremble.
Shen Qingluo stepped forward through the soft snow. “You claim Nanny Bai stole my bracelet. Do you have proof?”
Nanny Wang faltered, stammering, then straightened with false confidence: “I—I saw it with my own eyes!” She pointed to the little maid beside her. “Suyue, you tell her.”
“Yes, yes… this servant saw it too. It was hidden beneath Nanny Bai’s pillow.” Suyue answered without daring to meet Shen Qingluo’s gaze.
Like Nanny Wang, Suyue had also followed from the Marquis’s household to serve Shen Qingluo in the old estate.
Shen Qingluo cast her a glance, then called out: “Steward Li.”
The steward of the old estate hurried over, nearly slipping on the snow.
“Careful, Steward Li—the ground is slick,” Shen Qingluo reminded him.
Her words of concern left him momentarily stunned. Shen Qingluo had never liked the old estate, and had always despised its servants. He answered cautiously, almost ingratiatingly: “If the young lady has orders, this old servant will obey.”
Shen Qingluo asked, “What is the rule here when a thief is caught?”
Steward Li bent his back respectfully. “Catch the thief with the stolen goods. Once the evidence is clear, beat them with the board and drive them out.”
As he spoke, Steward Li glanced at Nanny Bai and her son. His gaunt cheeks trembled. Then, gritting his teeth, he dropped to his knees and pleaded: “Miss, though Nanny Bai is poor, she has never stolen a single needle or thread from the household. I beg you, spare her and her son.”
“You mean to say I’m falsely accusing her?” Nanny Wang bristled, her voice arrogant. “I am a servant of the Marquis’s household—I would never stoop to slandering some ignorant old hag!”
She wielded the Marquis’s name like a weapon. Steward Li had no recourse, only sighed deeply and said: “Miss, if you are merciful, then expel them from the estate and let them fend for themselves.”
“Miss, please hear me out.” Suddenly Nanny Bai fell to her knees with a thud, her face sorrowful, eyes brimming with tears. “Miss, the old madam truly cared for you. You must guard the inheritance she left you. Do not be deceived by others, do not let yourself be tricked away!”
Her heartfelt words brought tears to Shen Qingluo’s eyes. She truly had been reborn!
Her previous life’s misery had begun right here. At ten years old, she entered the old estate, accompanied only by Nanny Wang and Suyue. She trusted Nanny Wang completely, believing her words that her mother loved her and that the Marquis’s household was her true home, while Nanny Bai was merely someone her grandmother had sent to care for her.
Nanny Wang often whispered in her ear: “The Marchioness dotes on you most dearly. It was the old madam who forced you to come to the estate to keep her company. The Marchioness wept until her heart broke.”
Nanny Wang added, “That Bai woman was sent by the old madam to spy on you. The old madam wants to raise you like a merchant’s daughter.”
So, when the accusation of theft arose, Shen Qingluo believed Nanny Wang without hesitation. She ordered Nanny Bai beaten with the board, and in the bitter depths of winter, drove mother and son out of the estate.
From then on, no one around her spoke the truth. When she returned to the capital, she handed over the shops and farmland her grandmother had entrusted to her. She even used the business skills her grandmother had taught her to manage the Marquis’s estates, bringing in wealth by the bucketful.
What she received in return was the tightly shut gates of the Marquis’s household when she was desperate, and the Marchioness’s cold words:
“An impure woman will only sully the Marquis’s halls.”
On another snowy day, she curled up against the wall of the Marquis’s residence. As she froze to death, it was Nanny Bai who appeared like a savior, dragging her back to a ruined temple. But fate was cruel—she did not survive, dying in the snow of the thirtieth year of Great Yong. When she opened her eyes again, she was back at her grandmother’s full-month memorial.
Shen Qingluo turned her head. The ancestral hall door was ajar, snow drifting down from the twilight sky. Her grandmother’s memorial tablet seemed to gaze at her— As if telling her: men and ghosts wear the same face; she must learn to see through the demons and monsters around her.
Her eyes grew calm. “Steward Li, catch the thief with the stolen goods. Search the rooms.”
She whispered a few more instructions. Steward Li looked at her in astonishment, then after a long pause, nodded heavily.
The silent old estate came alive under the candlelight. Servants moved swiftly through the halls, soon returning with items in hand.
Steward Li reported, “We found it.”
Nanny Wang’s lips curled in a triumphant smile, her voice brimming with pride: “Miss, you are the Marquis’s legitimate eldest daughter. You must punish such insolent slaves severely!”
Shen Qingluo nodded. “Nanny Wang speaks rightly.” Then she turned to Steward Li. “In whose room were the items found?”
Steward Li answered without changing expression: “Reporting to Miss—the things were discovered in Nanny Wang’s quarters.”
Nanny Wang’s eyes widened, disbelief flashing. “What did you say?”
Steward Li replied coldly: “Not only the jade-and-silver lotus bracelet, but also the mutton-fat balm you often use, the Daoxiang Pavilion pastries you often eat, and the twisted-silver bracelet and sapphire hairpin you often wear.”
“This is all a misunderstanding.” Nanny Wang exhaled in relief. “These were gifts the young lady bestowed upon me.”
Shen Qingluo countered softly: “Is that so? How is it I don’t recall?”
“What do you mean, young lady?” A chill seeped into Nanny Wang’s chest, her voice trembling.
It was true—Nanny Wang often took small trinkets and food from Shen Qingluo’s courtyard, and she had indeed been granted fine jewelry and clothing. But whenever she gave such things, there had rarely been a third witness. Now, whether it was a gift or theft depended entirely on Shen Qingluo’s word.
“I never gave them, and Nanny Wang never reported them to me. That makes it theft.” Shen Qingluo’s calm words sealed Nanny Wang’s despair.
Steward Li stood waiting, hands lowered, asking how to proceed.
Shen Qingluo said, “Nanny Wang has followed me here to the old estate since I was ten—seven years now. I will remember your service…”
“Miss, I am innocent!” Nanny Wang’s face twisted with defiance. She cried out: “I am a servant of the Marquis’s household—I belong to the Marchioness!”
At those words, Shen Qingluo’s smile turned cold. Her lips parted lightly:
“Then let it be a lighter punishment. Fifty strokes of the board.”
Fifty strokes!
This was no “light punishment”—it was a death sentence.
Nanny Wang collapsed to the ground.
At Steward Li’s signal, two burly matrons moved to drag her away. But Shen Qingluo spoke: “Do it here.”
She wanted her grandmother to witness it. To see that she would never again walk the same doomed path.
“Miss, don’t be deceived! Have you forgotten you are the Marquis’s legitimate daughter, born of the Marchioness after ten months of pregnancy?”
“The Marchioness even arranged such a fine marriage for you…”
At the mention of “marriage,” Shen Qingluo’s face hardened. “Begin at once.”
Nanny Wang’s heavy body was forced onto the bench. After only a few strokes, her cries filled the hall. “Miss… spare me…”
The crows outside shrieked and scattered into the snowy sky. Servants huddled in corners, silently watching.
Nanny Bai wiped her tears, staring wide-eyed. The young lady, dressed in plain robes, already carried the commanding air of the old madam herself.
After twenty strokes, Nanny Wang’s screams weakened; she was barely breathing.
The matrons wielding the boards hesitated. “Miss, if we continue… she will die.”
“Continue.”
“Yes.”
Shen Qingluo clenched her fists, her gaze cold. She would tear out this claw of the Marchioness.
When the fifty strokes were finished, Nanny Wang sagged limp, only her fingertips trembling faintly.
Shen Qingluo waved her hand. “Throw her out the back gate.”
Steward Li obeyed. His steps were steadier than before.
Shen Qingluo slipped off her fox-fur cloak and draped it over Nanny Bai’s shoulders. Supporting her gently, she spoke with warmth: “Nanny, in the past I was ignorant. I let you suffer.”
“No, no, not at all.” Nanny Bai fumbled awkwardly, trying to remove the cloak and return it. “Miss mustn’t freeze.” She was clumsy with words, never once having blamed Shen Qingluo in her heart, yet too simple to know how to express it.
Shen Qingluo clasped her hand firmly. “I understand your heart. From now on, you and Douzi will be my family.”
“No, no, no…” Nanny Bai was startled, hastily protesting: “You are noble and precious. This old servant and Douzi are lowly slaves—how could we ever be worthy of being your kin?”
Shen Qingluo tightened her grip, her tone resolute: “You are worthy.”
The boy beside them stared as though he had seen a ghost. Was this not the young lady who had always despised him and his mother? Who had called them bumpkins, filthy, covering her nose whenever they drew near? But now Shen Qingluo looked into their earnest eyes—one old, one young—and her own eyes grew wet. In her past life, the only warmth she had known before death had come from this mother and son.